The field of this invention generally relates to a supporting stand and more particularly to a supporting stand for use in connection with a sound box type of musical instrument.
A performer with a guitar or other sound box type of musical instrument will highly value that instrument as that instrument is not only expensive but is necessary for producing a desired sound for the particular performer.
Performing musicians, when not performing, frequently locate their guitar on a chair or other supporting surface. Such mere locating of an instrument on a supporting surface is potentially hazardous to the musical instrument as the musical instrument could be bumped or otherwise fall from the supporting surface which could cause irreparable damage to the instrument.
Also, some musicians during a performance may use a plurality of different types of guitars or other similar sound box musical instruments. Therefore, it is not desirable to have the not being used instrument just barely located on a table or other supporting surface since the musician may need to rapidly disengage himself from one musical instrument and locate the other musical instrument quickly in his grasp in order to continue a particular performance.
Also, within commercial establishments that sell musical instruments, it is desirable that the guitars and other sound box musical instruments be supported in an eye catching manner to facilitate their sale. It has been found that a desirable eye catching manner would be to have the musical instrument upright with the neck of the--guitar substantially vertically oriented. Also such supporting of a guitar, when the guitar is not being used, in conjunction with a performance has also been found to be desirable.
Within the past there have been attempts to design supporting stands for supporting a guitar in the upright manner. Such supporting stands are normally constructed as a solid rigid unit with the guitar primarily resting within the supporting stand. The guitar will be located in a slightly loose fit in conjunction with the stand. It has been found that if the guitar is accidently bumped while in such a supporting stand, that possibly the guitar would be capable of falling free from the stand and therefore possibly incurring damage.
Also, such rigid stands have been found to occupy a substantial amount of space. A performer frequently travels from one location to another and therefore requires to transport the stand separate from its musical instrument. This means that the performer has additional equipment that must be transported.
Further, within a commercial establishment there may be used one, two, three or more dozen of such stands. If a few of the stands are not being used these stands can occupy significant amount of space within the store when they are stored. Within the aforementioned patent application of which the present invention is continuation-in-part, there was disclosed a supporting stand for a guitar or other similar sound box musical instrument which collapsed, to occupy a small amount of space when not in use. This would be desirable as the stand could be included right within the guitar carrying case and did not require to be carried separately by the musician when moving from one location to another. Also, within a commercial establishment the guitar stand could be readily located within a drawer or other similar type of storage space when not in use. Additionally, the guitar stand resiliently connected itself to the sound box of the muscial instrument so, that during the time that the musical instrument was supported, there would be a secure connection between the musical instrument and the stand, making it almost impossible to separate the musical instrument from the stand by merely bumping the musical instrument. It was necessary to overtly remove the musical instrument from the stand when such is desired.
Within the stand of the aforementioned continuation-in-part patent application, all three legs were pivotable in respect to a clamping band which held the legs together. During folding of the stand in the collapsed position, it has been found to be desirable to fix in position, with respect to clamping band, one of the legs and have the other two legs be pivotable in respect to the band. Also, the clamping band of the aforementioned application was not constructed in a manner to facilitate manufacture of the supporting stand. Further, the clamping band of the aforementioned application did not achieve the most desired connection between the legs.